Saturday, December 22, 2012

Inequality: The Game

“Over 14 million Americans are unemployed. Now your one of them.
Your savings are gone. You've lost your house. You're a single parent
and your down to your last $1,000. Can you make it through the month?
“ - Introduction to PLAYSPENT.org

The McKinney ad agency has taken a unique approach to discuss and
try to solve inequality by delivering the Urban Ministries of
Durham's mission statement and donation system through a
chose-your-adventure-style game based on market data called SPENT.
This web-browser based game has the user attempt to survive
homelessness and poverty through a series of dialogue trees and mini
games in an attempt to both educate the user on poverty in the U.S.
and too offer a way to donate to charities involved with poverty
relief. This essay aims to analyze the success of SPENT by
considering the level of poverty in the United States through market
data, examine solutions to inequality, and then compare this to SPENT
itself and it's use of converging media. From mainstream to the
blogosphere economic stratification in the world is a growing problem
as inequality hits it's “highest point in 20 years” (Lennard).
The scales of economy have been tipped so far in the favor of a few
percent of the population that relatively rich nations, such as the
United States, struggle to feed their own citizens. Forty nine
million Americans, 14.5 percent of U.S. Households, are not able to
provide full meals for themselves (Bread for the World) and food
share programs continue to reduce coverage by thousands of people
each month (We Are Wisconsin). The problem of poverty is global, with
austerity cuts over-saturating news worldwide despite economists
urging governments that such cuts hurt economic recovery (Tores).

There are both short and long term solutions to this inequality:
short term is the supply of food, shelter and assistance while a long
term fix is changing the balance of economy. SPENT offers users a
chance to participate in both of these solution. Short term solutions
are offered by direct $5 donations to the Urban Ministries of Dunham
which will “feed one person a day” (Urban Ministries of Dunham).
This option to donate, via Paypal, is offered in two ways on the
site: the “end” screen or by clicking “exit” when entering
the site. If the user clicks “exit” they are greeted to a screen
that reads “THIS IS TOO HARD ISN'T IT?” with links to donate.
Alternatively this screen is shown when the user reaches the “end”
screen. This creates a commentary that seems to suggest that giving
is effective, but not as effective as getting involved. It also shows
that the creator is from a leftist side of ideology, promoting
welfare and common good.

Long term solutions are offered by directing the user to get
involved with their communities directly. There is a universal
reasoning that when someone can actively participate in their local
economy and set standards for others it creates a precedent for a
generation. Consider the end of segregation in the south; President
Dwight Eisenhower, famous for enforcing desegregation in 1957 by
deploying federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, did not enforce
the Brown vs. Board of Education law until public opinion
changed from the action of civil rights activists such as the Little
Rock Nine. SPENT seeks to offer it's long term solution by calling
for action for common sense good the same way many revolutionaries
have not so long ago (Lang). Of course none of this would matter much
if SPENT did not function well as a game because it wouldn't be able
to reach such a large audience.

After the user starts the game they are made to choose from three
different jobs. Each job offers variation on the games cyberdrama,
the “enactment of the story in the particular fiction space of the
computer” (Murray). If the user selects to work as a “temp”
they will be taken to a typing test (where, in a clever fashion, the
user is tested by typing out the mission statement for Urban
Ministries of Dunham). If they pick warehouse worker there is no test
but a bigger risk for health problems. Finally the user can pick
Waiter/Waitress which comes with random pay and health problems. The
game plays out with days passing by on a calendar starting from the
first to the 30th. The user has three strikes for employment with
things like “talking to a union boss” causing the user to get
fired from their job, costing a strike. The game offers explanations
for this with each choice backed up by real data. For example, one
day the user could be charged $150 for a broken window which their
landlord must pay. If the user selects “get legal advice” instead
of “pay $150” they go to a free legal clinic, lose a day of work
and find out that they need to wait for a consultation for three
months. The best option turns out to be “put plastic over window
$5.” If the user opts to ask a friend to store their items rather
than pay the $45 rental fee the game will make a Facebook posts
asking if some friends will help move their furniture. This
intertextual reference, to Facebook, Twitter, the charity and those
in poverty, has a large breadth that is not easily noticeable when
the site is first loaded. This helps make it's message a success as
the text is concise.

SPENT is a contemporary platform based on economic convergence, the
“horizontal integration of the entertainment industry” (Jenkins
1). While it delivers a consistent message and aesthetic the game
itself is a pro bono project from ad agency McKinney who has worked
with companies like Audi. Normally a high profile ad agency would
never take on a project that is tailored for an interactive game of
cult (Marshall) but media convergence has made this happen. There
are also aspects of intellectuality, texts that “implies or calls
forth other texts (Marshall, p70). SPENT feels genuine because it's
based on real market data and the presentation is minimalistic.

SPENT works on many levels because it's a fully functional game,
it's topical, converging and offers short and long-term solutions to
the problem of poverty. It also addresses old media in an interesting
way; by clicking on the tab “get involved” the user is taken to
the Urban Ministries website which looks surprisingly antiquated.
Despite the poor design of the Ministries actual site the web game by
McKinney has been a success as shown with over 1.7 million users
logging in to play (Roth). Those users are given conflicts such as
hire a math tutor for their child or actually do a math problem. If
you fail the problem SPENT informs you that “over 50% of households
cannot help their children with their math and science.”

PLAYSPENT.org brings conflict up through dialogue that is hard to
discount. The data is readily available and the game also shows the
user facts that back up its ideology that poor people are suffering
at a level of inequality we have not seen in years. It doesn't offer
change in the game itself having little participation in the
environment but it asks the user to be a participator in their own
environment. Much different than ARG (Alternate Reality Games) which
place a UI over life to make it feel like a game, SPENT creates a
mental conflict based on real life to turn it into a game. If more
charities can create media that turns learning about inequality as
close to home, interesting and informative as SPENT, they would have
more success.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Slender is a first person survival horror game by Parsec Productions that follows the Interactive Game of the Cult Film form titled Slender: The Eight Pages. I chose Slender because it offers an opportunity to incorporate text from Murray and Marshall and because it's development is unique; it's a indie-free-game based on forum posts.

Slender is a free game that sets the player in a dark forest in the middle of the night. The player can sprint for a brief amount of time and has a flash light to illuminate the surroundings that they can turn on and off. There are no more controls than this which makes the game easily accessible The flash light has a battery that cannot be recharged or replaced and the player does not know this until the first time the flashlight goes out. At this point they are stuck in the dark. The puzzle aspect of Slender is to find the eight pages that are placed on the games forest map. This is difficult because the pages could be in one of many spots and are randomly placed in one of many set locations each time a new game is started. This adds to fear in the game as the player is never sure where the pages are.

In a comical/parodic way Slender plays with the contest element that Murray talks about. In this way it's quite progressive; when you collect all pages you gain nothing. There are some extra options unlocked from the main menu but the narrative is linked with this presentation; the player dies no matter what. Therein lies some of the collaborative improvisation between the player and the creator of the game; there is no escape from the Slender. But what is the Slender?

Slender is a creature who hides in the woods. He can stretch his arms out to a length of about fifty feet and eats small children. He is afraid of the light and when struck with the players flashlight Slender will sit still. However if the player looks at Slender the screen will begin to fill with static, blinding the player. At this point they must run away or they will be stunned from viewing Slender and then killed by him. This creates a strong feeling of fear and a desire to win the contest: don't die by Slender. In the end, the contest cannot be won, as the player dies no matter what, an interesting commentary between creator and player/user.

Intertexual commodity is here in a unique way; Slender is based off of a forum post on the online website Something Awful. The post gained popularity when the idea of a "Slender Man" surfaced. Soon the story line and characters became based off of aggregated posts. In a way it was created much like a wiki which shows another element of intertextual commodity. Slender itself references it's roots through its design/imagery but it also references it directly in it's ReadMe (manual for PC games), letting the user/player know that this is based off posts from Something Awful. The game/story/mythos has become so popular there is now another version in the works unrelated to The 8 Pages called Slender: Source based off the Source engine (Half-Life series). These elements make the game procedural and participatory, as it is updated regularly based on player/user input. Slender's biggest success is it's ability to show a narrative rather than tell it with the various landmarks that the player visits which visually tell an abstract story with no limitations or boundaries beyond the confines of the game's one map.

Friday, November 30, 2012

SUMMARY:
Marcus Garvey's speech at Madison Garden begins as a preamble, drawing
attention to the vast African population of "six million people"
who must unite as a nation in Africa. Garvey gives the movement
meaning by placing it in cultural context: he mentions
that through the world "we hear the cry of Ireland for
the Irish Palestine for the Jew, Egypt for the Egyptian,
Asia for the Asiatic, and thus we Negroes raise the cry of Africa for
the Africans, those at home and those abroad." His speech
reverberates what he feels is true, that all men should be free,
"free to work out their own salvation. Free to create their own
destinies." Garvey also lays out the limits of his vision and
qualm fears of whites telling the audience that "We
are not asking the white man to turn Europe and America over to us"
and stating that he seeks a "peaceful, prosperous and
progressive" race for all people. From here Garvey talks about
distinct racial group idealism; that no man is good enough to govern
another man, of any race. Garvey also invokes religious rhetoric by
quoting biblical such as "though shalt not kill" taking
a contextually common sense approach to the audience.
Garvey attacks race superiority both at an intellectual level and
with philosophical and moral argument of no exclusivity; to Garvey
the world is a place created by "our Heavenly Father" for
"our common disposal", a "property of all mankind"
(p 120). From here Garvey talks about the degradation of culture
upon people that are enslaved "We cannot sing, we
cannot play on our harps, for our hearts are sad." (p121) This
is a setup for him to introduce his project the Universal Negro
Improvement Association, a "friendly co-operation with all
honest movements seeking intelligently to solve the race problem."
From here Garvey moves to the rhetoric behind moving to
Africa by saying "it will be our only hope of permanent
existence." He also believed that this would allow "white
and black" to "learn to respect each other when they cease
to be active competitors in the same country" creating an
"atmosphere of our own". Garvey calls for "fair play"
through this speech and finishes with a warning; that "colored
intellectuals" can be use his training to be "A seeker
after the easiest and best by following the line
of least resistance."

RESPONSE:
Garvey's speech reveals much about his rhetoric and about the
cultural context of the time. When Garvey says those famous words of
"cry of Africa for the Africans, those at home and abroad"
some people did not understand what he meant, DuBois being one of
them, who said "America stopped, America listened, and America
laughed." (Marcus Garvey video) After his speech his views could
not be clearer: Garvey was seeking an African nation for Africans
because none exist. When considering the Berlin Conference and
placing Africans in historical context I began to see more clearly;
there are no modern African armies, governments or societies (that
are not steeped in poverty). Besides this he had other progressive
ideas that are revealed through his speech.

Garvey
believed not only in freedom of religion but freedom from religion
when he says "all men should be free-free to work out their own
salvation. Free to create their own destinies." (p118, Garvey
Handout). Another example of religious progression is found in the
Garvey video that shows transgressive ideas such as a black baby
Jesus (which is also more historically accurate, even
compared to the text of the Judea-Christian Bible), hinting at
Garvey's acceptance of faith (or lack of it).

Some
of Garvey's more transgressive views stem from his reluctance to
embrace multiculturalism which can be noted in his speech. There is
a sense that he feels certain races belong to certain cultures and he
believed in pan-Africanism and black nationalism, that cultures are
different among races (Garvey Video). It's interesting to compare the
actions of someone like Garvey and Anders Breivik, who killed almost
100 unarmed people in his fight against multiculturalism while
Garvey setup newspapers and aid. It's clear that even when compared
to modern figures that Garvey was not a violent threat, even though
he wanted an army. The army, the business economy and the speech all
attempt to bring a "permanent existence for Africans.
One thing feels for sure, that Garvey had the charisma to be a leader
in such an existence.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Television
has been called a “site of cultural representation” (Butler)
that creates conflict to bring conversation. This proxy for living is
often both sensational and forgettable when viewed through the soap
opera genre (Mittell p241).
Twin Peaks broke theses traditions through interlinking its
presentational styles while remaining firmly rooted in the soap opera
genre. It was quite successful, capturing a quarter million of its
available television audience (Lavery).
It also managed to kill off it's viewership after one season and
resulted in cancellation by it's much hyped second season. While Twin
Peaks succeeded in grabbing the coveted commodity audience by
creating America's first night time soap opera with a serial
narrative, it also murdered its own mystery by letting network
executives control it's story.

Twin
Peaks relies on two major elements to create it's interest that
break tradition. The first is the Midwest setting, reminiscent of
daytime soap operas; usually the commodity audience relates most with
shows set in an urban environment, with the Midwest being for the
stay at home mothers and fathers or older audiences. By creating
engaging storyline about prostitution and drug abuse in a
nontraditional setting the producers of Twin Peaks were
able to represent small towns in a titillating fashion. The
second element that breaks tradition is the casting of Twin Peaks'
victim, a pretty, white, teenage girl named Laura Palmer. This
character shows the representation of hegemony; the death of a ruling
class citizen, the ultimate fear, the one thing that should be
protected in modern society. In this way Laura symbolizes the
national identity of America at the time.

The
world of Twin Peaks is initially presented as a safe
community with simple and hard working people. The burning question
is revealed within minutes of the Pilot episode:
who killed Laura Palmer? This question brings out stories within the
show as elements of Laura Palmer's personality are revealed. In
episode 1 “Traces to Nowhere”
we discover that Laura is a regular cocaine user. This brings many
conflicts: did her parents know? Who supplied her? Was she using the
drugs, selling them or holding onto them? Adding to the stories
confusion is the interlinking forms of representation.

The
storyline continue and traverse multiple episodes (Mittell
p231)
but Twin
Peaks follows the ritual of
genre cycles by always having the same style mise-en-scene: the
atmosphere feels like a soap opera with repeating sets, soft and
fuzzy camera filters and quick shots between characters. There's also
a large emphasis of color. This is of many ways Twin Peaks
breaks the soap opera style so that it becomes memorable: the show is
scandal focused but presented in such a well crafted and creative
manner that it's images and storyline become quite memorable but
still true to the soap opera genre.

There
are other factors for the shows success: the series has a interlinked
representational style in multiple aspects of the text. While the
camera filters and establishing shots are like soap operas there are
many static shots, no zoom and red is over saturated in post
production. The strange color scheme makes the somewhat familiar
unfamiliar, with a traditional soap opera representation using a
different chromatic scheme. The development of the story also shows
aspects of multiple presentational styles, both in how the text is
presented and in how it was constructed.

The
clues throughout the series mostly make sense within the realm of a
crime drama, such as finding DNA on the crime scene, developing
characters, showing emotional reactions and building mystery. This is
a contrast to the other side of the series which features
doppelgangers, interpretations of the Native American afterlife (the
White Lodge and Black Lodge), visions of giants and a continually
repeating image of a white horse that has no apparent meaning.
Therefore one can see how Twin Peaks
is a hybrid, presenting realistic world with one or two unrealistic
characters that the audience views unrealistic images through. While
characters are continually quirky, they are never beyond realistic: a
one armed man, a lady with an eye patch and a FBI agent hard of
hearing who always screams his orders (played by Lynch himself) are
all within the realm of believable characters, just not all as
inhabitants of the same small town. Agent Cooper is the medium for
which all the unrealistic elements of Twin Peaks
manifest. This can be noted in as early as the Pilot
episode.

Agent
Dale Cooper often monologues into his tape recorder to a off screen
character named Diane. When first visiting Twin Peaks
Cooper mentions how beautiful the trees “look and smell” and how
he must find out the name of the trees. What's interesting here is
how the monologues develop character, another nontraditional way of
representation; Agent Cooper seems to be revealing things to Diane as
if she is a family member or friend, telling quirky details along
with important ones. But Diane is never revealed at all in the entire
series with no character ever confirming or denying her existence.
The fact that she is only referenced by Cooper adds a complex layer
to the story of the character to Dale Cooper. Is he insane? Is Diane
real? This also helps merge the representational styles; if Cooper is
insane perhaps the visions the audience sees are just the images of
an insane man and nothing more.

The
first sight of extreme supernatural storytelling is with Episode 2,
Season 1, titled “Zen or the Skill to Catch a Killer”.
This scene is the first of the many famous “Red Room” scenes.
Dale Cooper dreams in a montage that shows Killer BOB, the victim
Laura Palmer, his nemesis, gives cryptic clues (such as the often
talked about poem “Fire Walk With Me”) and then is transported to
a avant-garde set with a backwards talking dwarf. This scene helps
show some of the similarities between the story and development; the
method of production is equally as absurd as the scene itself.Twin
Peaks' story was often times
ad-libbed, with characters being created on the spot or accidentally.
In this first Red Room scene in Episode 2 the audience finally hears
more from Killer BOB as he delivers some rare speaking roles. Whats
interesting is that his character was introduced into the series
completely on accident only to become a main villain .Lynch revealed
that the idea for Killer BOB came when Frank Silva, a grip boy, was
accidentally filmed in the mirror of a shot in the pilot episode (Dunham).

Most
of the visions and supernatural representation in Twin
Peaks are confusing and left to
interpretation. Consider this conversation during the Red Room scene
in episode 2:

“I have good news. That gum you like is
coming back in style. (looks at Doppleganger, then Cooper) She's my
cousin. But doesn't she look almost exactly like Laura
Palmer? Cooper: “But it is Laura Palmer. Are you Laura
Palmer? Doppelganger:” I feel like I know her, but sometimes my
arms bend back.”

Dwarf:
“She's filled with secrets. Where we're from, the birds play a
pretty song and there's always music in the air.”

This
scene is ironic because it is very unsettling and confusing visually but a upbeat jazz song plays, making a small joke of the moment. Part of
the confusion is due to what is familiar and unfamiliar to the
viewer, more of the mixed forms of representation that break genre
conventions. All speech is spoken backwards then played forwards
giving the vocals a haunting and unsettling effect. The viewer knows
Laura Palmer is both dead and underage but she kisses the apparent
hero of the story. The dwarf has never made an appearance in the show
and it is unsure if he is a symbol or a real person. These elements
are what make Twin Peaks
sensational in a memorable way but sadly it was unable to continue
with its strong, but never to be revealed, series story arc. The series was quite successful because it had one large
mystery with other mysteries built upon it. This gave new seriousness
to the serial format; even if sensational conflicts arose or were
solved over short arcs the major arc would remain unsolved
indefinitely. No one was to know who killed Laura Palmer.

The
second season of Twin Peaks
faced a strange cycle. Interest waned shortly after Episode 14,
“Lonely Souls” which
revealed the killer of Laura Palmer. Twin Peaks
was continually moved from time slot to time slot in a bid to gain
interest in the show. While reception of the episode was overall
positive it still faced some criticism: for drawing out the death of
Laura Palmer. What's ironic with this is that as soon as the killer
is revealed viewership drops. Episode 15, “Drive with a
Dead Girl”, showed a steep
decline in ratings. Mark Frost and David Lynch both say on the
Twin Peaks special
edition DVD that they never wanted to reveal the identity of Laura
Palmer's killer but felt pressure to do so by network executives who
claimed they were responding to fans demands (Jenson).
This revelation actually ended up hurting the franchise. Other shows
have used this format since, most notable AMC's The
Killing, a show quite popular in
its fist season. The Killing also revealed it's killer in it's second
season and was then canceled.

One
wonders what would happen if the mystery that started Twin
Peaks wasn't murdered through
the revelation of episode 14. Despite this Twin Peaks changed
traditional genre conventions by making the soap opera serial a
nontraditional but successful “nipple gate” for the commodity
audience of the 1990's, creating a genuine cultural representation
through settings not thought possible and surprisingly realistic
story's and characters mixed in a bizarre landscape. While it's hard
to pinpoint a overall ideology from the shows main story arcs, their
characters reveal many conflicts that are still relatable today.

Works
Cited

Mittell,
Jason. Television and American Culture. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press, Web.

Monday, November 12, 2012

If you have been enjoying some of the writing here (or using them for essays or whatever) please do me a favor: check out my podcast at Riverwest Radio. We do original music, interviews, specials and more, all as a part of my collective, New Word Document. If your ever in need of a MC, DJ, slam/spoken word artist or event coordinator feel free to contact me via my personal website.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Modern Family inaccurately represents various audiences by focusing on three different family units. These families are introduced with pleasant establishing shots of suburbia, alternating between exterior and interior. Each family is introduced in succession with the same problem giving an easy form of identification for the viewer: the problem with the episode Snip is children and how they effect our lives. Each family is identified, usually, with explicit stereotypes. These stereotypes are best shown through the characters Mitchell and Cam and the Spanish mother, wife to Jay. It is easy to notice this when contrasted against other characters in the show and also against common sense and the cultural norm (perhaps to a more progressive/leftist audience, as this program does seem rightist, however I think many people would feel otherwise at first glance).

Mitchell and Cam are established with a shot in the kitchen that shows it sparsely decorated and lifeless, unlike Phil's home which is filled with drawings from his children, documents from work and other artifacts that suggest a more full and normal family life. Mitchell and Cam are not flamboyant when feeding their child or parenting but later in the episode when they argue over Cam's contribution to the family he shows his sentiment by squeal’s rather than crying, jumps and then crawls on the bed, cries over his “master plan” (a cat outfit) and then suddenly changes and gets a job with little resistance. Another shot that shows antiquated stereotypes is what I call the “water goblet” scene.In the water goblet scene (starting at 7:25) Mitchell is seen in a department store, looking at clothes. Everything looks normal in the establishing shot but then Mitchell turns around revealing a large wine goblet filled with water. Why is the water in a goblet? Does the clothing store also carry goblets? Does Mitchell walk around with goblets to clothing stores? The explicitly over the top representation of gay characters goes further as characters are introduced with more over the top persona's, loud clothing is stolen and general cartoon antics happen. This is quite different than what Phil experiences when he goes with Jay to get a vasectomy. In general the establishment is respected (as seen with the doctors office) and white people, suburban people are viewed as successful and happy. White characters even occupy space in the background, with pictures of Phil's face visible on benches.

By the end of this episode the traditional white family represented by Phil decides they want to have children because they have enough time for them. The traditional gay couple is looked at as childish and dysfunctional but still happy. The Spanish/Jay family is generally used as the tension breaker and Spanish/Mexican people are shown as being cartoon characters. Jay, the husband to the Spanish character, is shown as an authority white figure. This is found when one notes that Jay is the narrator of the episode, offering “common sense” to the viewer at the end (which brings some resolution to the episode).

In general white people are portrayed positively, as being full of common sense. That common sense is that we need more first world children in white suburban households, gay adults are basically grown children without jobs and Spanish women need to be taught basic things by their children (who speak no Spanish). Even Mitchell, the other gay character, is shown as child like despite being more responsible. When he is at work he is shown goofing off and not at all engaged in anything productive. The message here is apparently that gay couples need children because they can't do anything besides wear loud clothing and slack off at work.

While this program would normally be viewed as a refracted representation of the world I would find this to be a escapist form of programming, merely putting a facade on antiquated cultural issues. The only way it could be more backwards in it's ideology and identification of national character is if there were a black family called the “Johnsons” and a handicapped family called the “Hawkings” added to the cast.